London: Overlooking objections from Pakistan, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday appointed New Zealand's John Reid as match referee for the forthcoming Asian Test Championship (ATC) next month.[an error occurred while processing this directive]ICC also cleared the appointment of Australian umpire Darryl Hair who is to stand in the opening Test of the championship to be played in Multan between Pakistan and Bangladesh from August 29.Pakistan Cricket Board had lodged a protest with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), organisers of ATC, over the appointment of Reid but ICC policies do not permit any member country to veto the appointment of independent referees or umpires, ICC chief executive officer Malcom Speed said."I have spoken personally to the Paksitan Cricket Board and John Reid about this matter and explained ICC's position. PCB has assured me that Reid will receive the same courtesies that are extended to all ICC officials visiting the country, and for his part Reid remains keen to fulfill his appointmentcovering the Test matches," Speed said.Reid became unpopular with PCB after he fined and suspended Waqar Younis, now Pakistan captain, for one match after finding the fast bowler guilty of ball tampering during a match in the Sri Lankan tri-series last year.Reid had also fined and warned Azhar Mahmood on the same charges. Reid reportedly took the decision to punish the two Pakistani cricketers without consulting the two umpires. PTI